1998 Winter Olympic Games

Interview of Kati Winkler and René Lohse

by Tino Eberl

This year one of your biggest dreams came true: your participation at the Winter Olympic Games. Now, back in your everyday life - spontaneous: What do you remember first when thinking back to Japan and why?

René: It was a great experience for me in a fantastic atmosphere. It was something special - not like usual competitions. To meet so many sportsmen from other kinds of sport was very interesting and the olympic spirit gave you some excitement.

Kati: The great atmosphere, to meet so many people, to make new friends and feel connected with the whole world, to feel the "Olympic Spirit". I remember the feeling all over my body when I marched in at the Olympic Opening Ceremony - just great!

Have you ever been to Japan before?

Kati & René: No, we have never been there before.

How did you like the Olympic Village? How was the accommodation?

René: The Olympic Village was great organized, we had a lot of opportunities and good food. The accomodations were simple but useful for our preparation.

Kati: It was good to stay in the Olympic Village, I think, food and organisation was good, I just missed some music or TV in the simple accommodation.

How was the mood among the Olympic athlets?

René: We met people which we only knew from TV, even some Germans. It was very interesting to got to know them, to learn something about their sport.

Kati: It was a good "Olympic" mood, I think everyone felt this special spirit of the Olympics. Many sportsmen tried to find new friends and contacts and many had a big smile on their faces because it was already great for them to take part in the Olympic Games.

How did you prepare for the Olympic season? Did your preparation go according to plan?

Kati & René: Generally yes. We knew our competitors before and we knew also that it would be hard to qualify for the Olympics. But we always stayed optimistic and tried to prepare very conscientious.

During the Winter Olympic Games a wave of influenza raged to an unusual high degree which even you could not escape. How much were your competitions affected by your illness?

René: For us there was no question about fighting until the end. But then Kati got high temperature and we were close to give up. But our doctor Selim Al-Bazaz did a great job, so we could finish our competition.

Kati: It was a hard fight to go through but it were our first Olympics and I knew I would make it with a strong will.

A faintness of Kati caused extra news in Germany's newspapers - whereas they usually concentrated on the duel between Anjelika Krylova & Oleg Ovsiannikov and Pasha Grishuk & Evgeny Platov. What was happened?

Kati: I went to the service area of the Olympic Village to get my make-up (Artistry offered this service) for our Original Dance in the evening where I suddenly fainted. I think because I was really sick but everything went o.k.. I am happy about finishing the Games.

Just like at European Championships your Original Dance got the highest rank of all your performances and caused a higher overall placement. What do you think is the reason for that success?

René: First of all, I think, this kind of rhythm is like made for us and the music is just great and funny!

Kati: Beside that we worked with professional ballroom-dancers to get the right feeling for the Jive and I love this piece of music sung by Bette Bidler.

With placing 19th at 1995 World Championships up to the 12th rank in 1997 you improved your placements from year to year. For the first time - and that even at the Olympics - you are within World's Top 10. A dream day in your career?

René: Yes, of course. It was a bit a surprise. It was always a dream of us to compete within the Top 10 and now it's a great feeling to belong to them.

Kati: A little dream came already true for us getting to the Olympics and reach even the Top 10. But we also know how hard it is to get there and how hard it will be now to get even better.

Sure one of the most beautiful days of your coach Martin Skotnicky too...

Kati & René: Yes, we think so, although his couples already had much higher placements. But he knows how difficult it is to come forward, especially after the disintegration of the USSR.

Did you attend other figure skating competitions too?

René: Sure, we watched the pairs and the men events.

Kati: We always like to watch our friends in pair skating. When you are looking at your friends on the ice you feel like you skate with them out there. You are also excited.

What other sport events did you attend?

René: When we had the chance, we went to speed skating, ice-hockey and short track.

Kati: I love to watch ice-hockey, the atmosphere in the rink was so great.

From which German athlete you were most impressed?

René: Gunda Niemann and Claudia Pechstein.

Kati: From the ski jumping team and the women in speed skating.

And who of the international athletes was your Number 1?

René: Bjørn Dæhlie.

Kati: Hermann Maier, after his accident he went up there again and won 2 gold medals!

Absolutely not representative: Who do you think was the lucky dog and the unlucky fellow of the Olympics?

Kati: For me the lucky dog was Hermann Maier again because he stood up after his accident like nothing. The unlucky fellow for me was the cross-country skier from Kenia because he was completely lost in his race.

René: The lucky dog for me was a ski alpinist from Norway. He took surprisingly the gold. I even forgot his name. Unlucky fellows were our German ski jumpers in the single events. It was a pitty.

Did you had time to visit the town Nagano and it's environs and to meet people?

René: Yes, we went twice to the city for a little bit shopping, watching the people, how they were busy with trading pins. The Olympics were everywhere!

Kati: I was surprised by Japan's contrasts - old traditions and famous technique united.

It has been reported that many people had problems to make themselves understood due to a lack of knowledge of languages on the Japanese side. Did you experienced the same?

René: Yes, not many were able to speak a different language. But they have to know in their own language over 2000 symbols. So it's understandable.

Kati: Maybe they could not speak that well English, but they were really friendly and tried their best. Beside you have hands and feet to speak, right? ;-)

What did you enjoy most in Japan?

René: I enjoyed the great landscape in Hakuba and how friendly all the people were.

Kati: I also enjoyed the kindness of the people, the computer-technique and the cultural tradition. We could see it in our "German House", a Japanese temple. Japanese people are very friendly to guests.

Maybe a little anecdote?

René: We rented some cycles and had to go on the left side of the street - that was strange and funny at the same time.

Kati: It was always great to stay in the "German House", to meet the German athletes and it was fun to listen to the "Karaoke-Show" of the cook, an Austrian. He could sing like Louis Armstrong! I loved to hear "What a wonderful world"!

Is there maybe something you remember with mixed feelings?

René: No, I don't remember.

Kati: Yes, when we went in the city. I could read nothing on the signs and I didn't know where to go back to the Olympic Village. You feel so helpless when you don't understand anything.

Before the Olympics René characterized the Games as a "milestone in an athlete's career". Now, after the Olympic Games, did they match your expectations?

René: I think yes. For us it was a good result. We are still young enough to look in the future. The 10th place can help us to get higher in some years, to climb up the stairs.

Kati: We were really happy to get into the Top 10 and if we go on like that in practice we have maybe the chance to get even higher - but every stair seems to get higher and higher. It's like in the mountains: when you get up, the air gets thin and thinner, in sports it is getting hard and harder.

Yet some questions to the Olympic surroundings:

Instead of showing big ice hockey the U.S. team impressed - after losing their match against the Czech Republic - by running riot through their accommodation in the Olympic Village. Did you notice that things?

René: No, unfortunately not. I just heard the final result of the game and thought: What happened to the NHL-Cracks? But I also was happy for the Czechs.

Kati: I heard about the behaviour of the U.S. team, but if you are a fair sportmen you also have to learn to lose sometimes. And NHL-players are in almost every team now. So the stars are not only in the U.S. or Canadian teams.

What do you think about such behaviour?

René: I find this behaviour very unsporting.

Kati: I think this is no way to express one's anger because you have to be a fair sportsmen and especially the NHL-players are idols for so many young kids that they should not behave like that.

Since 1988 the International Olympic Committee is testing for marihuana for statistical reasons. They discovered seven positive dope test samples but kept it secret. Now the eighth positive sample - from the Canadian Snowboard Olympic Champion Ross Rebagliati - has been revealed and caused hot international discussions. Due to the fact that marihuana is not listed at the Olympic doping list he is allowed to keep his title. Has this occurrence also been subject for discussions on the scene in Nagano?

René: Yes, we spoke also about it and we all condemned it. But we believe that marihuana cannot improve your sportive shape. It can just destroy your personality for a moment. You are out of control and that's dangerous.

Kati: I think, it's not sportsman-like to manipulate yourself in this way, and sure it brought big discussions in the scene of Nagano.

Which opinions has been hold?

Kati & René: We think the opinions are going in different ways, we just can say, in our opinion it brings you nothing to be better.

The World Championships at the end of March in Minneapolis/USA are your next international competition. How are your preparations going on? Are there any changes yet in progress?

René: Preparation is going quit well for us, we changed some points (one lift, some steps) after coming back from Japan to improve the programs a little bit.

Kati: And because we have no ice-hours one week before the Worlds here in Oberstdorf, we are going eventually to Québec, Canada, to prepare. That's good, because we can earlier get used to the smaller size of the rinks in America.

What are your aims for the World Championships?

Kati & René: Coming again under the Top 10. It's important for us to confirm our performance from Nagano, that we deserve to be in the Top 10 now.

Finally a fun question: Did the International Skating Union already announce the date for the next light breakdown?

Kati & René: Not yet, but if it happens again and again we will try to find the one who likes the ice rinks more dark! ;-)

Thank you very much for the interview.

Copyright © March 17, 1998 by Tino Eberl

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